How Much Personal Info Should You Give eBay?

Once you’re a full-fledged, officially registered member of the eBay community, you may see an eBay pop-up window giving you the option to provide more information about yourself. These optional questions allow you to fill in your self-portrait for your new pals at eBay.

Keep in mind that although eBay doesn’t share member information with anyone, you don’t have to answer the optional questions if you don’t want to.

eBay asks for this information because the company wants a better picture of who is using its Web site. In marketing mumbo-jumbo, this stuff is called demographics — statistics that characterize a group of people who make up a community. In this case, it’s the eBay community.

The following points show you the optional questions eBay asks. You decide what you feel comfortable divulging and what you want to keep personal. Here is the optional information you can provide:

Sex: Okay, it really asks you to indicate your gender by selecting a Male/Female radio button set. (But starting the sentence off with sex really got your attention, didn’t it?)

Annual household income: eBay states that this info is kept anonymous, but you may find it too personal. If you’re not comfortable with it, skip it.

Your highest completed education level: Again, if this is too personal, leave this area blank.

After selecting your responses from the drop-down box, you can click Submit. Or you can click Answer Later, and the pop-up box will reappear for your response later in your eBay dealings. If you don’t want to answer any of the demographic queries, click Please Don’t Ask Me Again, at the bottom of the pop-up window.